‘Our leader killed two policemen, snatched their rifles’

By Juliana Francis
Ife Olubaba is just 29-year-old. He is one of the eight robbers alleged to have attacked some policemen, killed two and disappeared without a trace with two of the cops’ rifles. Now, he has finally been arrested. Thanks to the vigilance and perseverance of Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARS) operatives in the state command.
But Olubaba was not the person who caused a buzz and a chatter of excitement among journalists who witnessed the presentation of the eight suspected robbers by the state’s commissioner of police, Umar Manko.
The centre of attention is a fair complexioned lady, identified as Obafunsho Taiwo. Detectives described her as lover to Olubaba, but she and Olubaba denied the liaison. Taiwo is said to be a member of the gang. But controversy is trailing her confessions and those of Olubaba. Their confessions raised so many puzzles, rather than solve the puzzles.
In one breathe; Taiwo claimed she had gone with Olubaba to robbery operations and in another breathe, she denied it, insisting that she was singing tunes scripted for her. This denial of not going to operation with the gang, however used to come up if one cared enough to take her aside from the crowd and question her alone.
When she was first asked about her role in the gang, she said: “I have gone with them twice to rob. I didn’t carry any gun. The first time I went with Ife, he went to sell a car. On that day, he gave me N20, 000. The second time, just like the first time, he asked me to sit and wait in the car. He later came with some phones and told me to hold them. He gave me N5000. Ife is not my lover. I have two kids. Ife is just my helper. He used to give me money to assist me since my frozen food business failed.”
Olubaba on the other hand, looked shocked when he was asked how he initiated Taiwo into his robbery gang. He denied being the leader of the gang and also denied ever taking Taiwo to any robbery operation, stressing that Taiwo was and had never been a robber.
His words: “I don’t know or understand why she’s lying. But God knows that she had never gone to any operation with me. I’m not even the leader of the gang. Taiye is the leader of the gang. And I also do not know or had heard of any robber called Godogodo.
“We’re not into big time robbery. What we do is to go to streets, break into shops and steal handsets. Taiwo is not my lover. I used to give her money to assist her. She needed help. She has children. She’s the friend of my lover. My lover is dead. She died of diabetes.
“The truth is that, a friend of mine called Lekan initiated me into robbery. I believe that Lekan must have been killed by now. I don’t used to hear from him anymore. I joined Lekan in robbery because I was trying to raise money to buy tools for my vulcaniser business. I wanted to raise N200, 000, but I have been in robbery for six months now and had not been able to raise the money.”
Recalling how the policemen were killed and their guns snatched by his gang, Olubaba said: “I was not the person that shot and killed those policemen. They were killed by Taiye, one gang leader. It was a senseless act and I later asked him why he attacked the policemen, he said policemen had done wicked things to him.
“On that day, some of the policemen were sitting and some were standing. We had already driven pass them when Taiye suddenly ordered that we should reverse the car and go back. We wanted to argue, but he was our leader. We turned back. He stepped out of the car, followed by Ahmed. I too stepped out. Suddenly, I heard gbang! It was gunshot. When I heard the gun shot, I started shooting into the air. Taiye returned with one gun, while Ahmed held another one. Other policemen started shooting. On that day, were seven in numbers and we went in three vehicles. We’ve never used those rifles to rob. The rifles were hidden in a bush at Shasha area.”
Olubaba explained that the guns used by the gang were bought from Ijebu-Ode and Sango-Ota, both in Ogun State.
Olubaba who said the gang does not specialise in snatching of vehicles, added: “We only snatched cars to use for street robbery. We usually abandon such vehicles along the roads after operation.”
Members of the burst gang have been named as: Ife Olubaba, 29,(Gang leader), Saheed Wasiu,23, Segun Idowu, 20, Wasiu Rafiu, 23, Odelade Kabiru, 26, Waliu Sonni, 29, Taiwo Obafunsho, 28(female) and Taiye Agege(killed).
According to Manko, recovered from the gang, aside from the two AK47 rifles belonging to the slain policemen are: One automatic pump action gun, four locally made pistols, two AK47 magazines, fully loaded, 135 live cartridges and one Hyundai Tucson Jeep, marked MUS350B. The items were said to have been recovered at the Egbeda area of Lagos.
Manko said: “On November, 3, 2013, in a follow up to the firing of policemen attached to Iju Police Station in Lagos on October, 9, 2013, by a gang of armed robbers, where two rifles were carted away by the robbers, I specifically asked the Officer in charge of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), SP. Abba Kyarri to take charge of the investigation and recover the snatched rifles.
“Acting on the strength of this directive, which was closely supervised by me, the manhunt paid off. Eight of the robbers, led by Ife Olubaba, a boy to Godogodo, the kingpin of the south west armed robbers were arrested at locations in Lagos and Ogun States.”
Manko continued: “During the exchange of gun fire between the armed robbers and SARS operatives, Taiye Agege, second in command in the gang, was fatally wounded. Olubaba is the leader of the gang. He’s also a member of Godogodo. He regrouped and formed the gang after Godogodo’s gang met its waterloo. With the arrest of Olubaba, the dynasty of Godogodo is over. All the arrested armed robbers had confessed to have taken part in the operation where policemen were killed at Iju and many other robberies. Meanwhile, efforts to arrest the remaining gang members have intensified.”